RAJSHAHI, Jan 31 (BSS): After getting better production of a high yielding black gram (mash-kalai) variety on the fallow lands in vast char (riverbed) areas, farmers become happy in both Rajshahi and Chapinawabganj districts during the current harvesting season.
Acreage of the variety, BARIMASH-3, released by the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), is gradually increasing as per acre yield is more than the existing indigenous varieties.
Huge char lands of the Padma and Mohananda rivers, which remained fallow after monsoon for a long, are being brought under black gram farming with initiatives of Barind Station of On Farm Research Division (OFRD) of BARI.
The OFRD is conducting various farmers' level motivational programmes to expand farming of BARIMASH-3 in char areas.
Referring to the salient features of the newly released variety, Dr Shakhawat Hossain, Senior Scientific Officer and Head of OFRD Barind Centre, said the farmers are very happy over the yield and they are interested to expand the acreage.
Golam Mostofa, a farmer of Baliadaying village, said the farmers once used to cultivate indigenous black gram varieties in a scattered way and many of the lands would remain fallow.
Apart from this, yield of those varieties was very poor; farmers got hardly one to one and a half mounds per bigha. After getting seeds from OFRD and according to its guidelines, they have been cultivating the new variety since last year, he added.
The farmers are very much interested to boost its farming in the years to come as the variety's yield is more than four to five mounds per bigha.
The mash-kalai production cost is also less. Cost of farming on one bigha is around Tk 750 whereas its outcome can be Tk 7,000 to Tk 8000.
Dr Shakhawat Hossain said huge land of the char area remained fallow after receding floodwater every year. So, there is an enormous scope of improving socio-economic condition of the local community through the best uses of the fallow lands if those were brought under BARIMASH-3 farming.
He referred to various salient features of the cash crops. He said: "No additional cost for fertiliser, pesticide and irrigation is needed to cultivate this sort-term cash crop".
Traditionally, Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts along with their vast char areas are very much popular for black gram farming and its production.
